COVID-19: Blood banks drying up in Maharashtra

As the COVID-19 positive cases and suspects continued to mount in Maharashtra, the state is running the risk of its blood banks getting dried up because of the acute shortage of supply.

The State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) has flagged the issue with the Maharashtra government.

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"The SBTC told me that we have stocks just for seven to eight days," Public Health & Family Welfare Minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday.

"Blood is one thing that has no alternative.... we can't do without it...we also have to understand that blood has a shelf life of 35 days," he said and called for blood camps.

He said that it was a genuine issue that because of the India lockdown and the imposition of Section 144 of CrPC, a public assembly could not be there.

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"The police and administration set up must ensure that blood donation camps are held but with the principle of social distancing," he said.

When contacted, a senior STBC official confirmed that the stocks would last for maximum 10 days. "It is a matter of deep concern and planning has to be done now itself. We have seen that the flow of patients are compounding," the official said, referring to Mumbai, the larger Mumbai metropolitan region, Pune, Sangli and Nagpur.

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According to the official, the per day need of Maharashtra is around 4,000 to 5,000 units. Which means, the state has roughly 35,000 to 40,000 units in its stock now.

The official said that small camps can be held and in time slots blood can be collected. "At every cost, we have to avoid crowding," he said.